There’s a scene in the 1997 movie “The Devil’s Advocate” when Keanu Reeves — former small-town lawyer turned big-time city legal gunslinger, courtesy of Satan in the flesh, Al Pacino — delivers a (very objectionable and argumentative) opening statement to the jury in his client’s murder trial.
Reeves’ character bluntly tells the jury, “I don’t like Alexander Cohen,” referring to his client. “I don’t think he’s a nice person. I don’t expect you to like him. He has been a terrible husband. … He’s cheated the city, his partners, his employees. … I’m going to tell you some things during the course of this trial that are going to make you like him even less. But this isn’t a popularity contest; it’s a murder trial. … I want one thing from you, that’s it. One thing. I want you to ask yourself: Is not liking this man reason enough to convict him of murder?”
We witnessed a real-life version of that scene play out in a South Carolina courtroom when accused double-murderer Alex Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense last week. It was further emphasized by an unflattering Netflix docuseries that delivered a unsparing account of Murdaugh’s character, actions and family legacy.
Just like the saying, “doctors make the worst patients,” lawyers can make the worst clients in their own defense.
As soon as he was sworn in to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, Murdaugh immediately confessed to the jury that he had lied to law enforcement, his family and the world at large for 20 months, while denying that he was physically present at the scene of the double homicide of his wife and his son back in June 2021. Murdaugh tearfully explained that his addiction to painkillers made him “paranoid” and caused him to lie to investigators, originally claiming that he last saw his wife and son at dinner and that he was not at the dog kennels/crime scene that bloody and violent night. Later, and only after video evidence…
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